Dong Kingman is among America's great twentieth century watercolor scene painters. He is best known for employing a rare blend of Chinese and American styles, achieving a unique bicultural effect. He preferred to paint urban scenes and did most of his work in New York and San Francisco.

In the early 1960's, Dong Kingman's work was seen beyond museum and gallery walls. One of his paintings was on the cover of Time Magazine and his watercolor paintings help set the scene for three famous films; Flower Drum Song, 55 Days at Peking and The Sand Pebbles.

Dong was born in Oakland in 1911, and his name was Dong Moy Shu. At age 5, his parents moved to Hong Kong where his father set up a dry goods business. There, young Dong was sent to the Bok Jai School where he received instruction in Chinese tradition. Upon hearing of his interest in art, his teacher gave him two names, "King" meaning scenery, and "Man" meaning composition. Young Dong kept the two names, adding them to his family name. In keeping with tradition, he kept his family name first ... hence the name Dong Kingman came into being, a blended Chinese-American name for a truly Chinese-American painter.

Dong Kingman returned to the United States in the late 1920's. He studied art and struggled. It was a tough time for America and Dong did what many other artists did at the time, getting a small paycheck working as an artist for the

Works Progress Administration. During his time with the WPA, he completed over 300 works. He joined the Army during WW II and worked for the Office of Strategic Services at Camp Beal, CA and in Washington, D.C.

In 1942, Kingman received the Guggenheim Fellowship. He settled in Brooklyn and taught art at Columbia and remained in New York for the next fourteen years before making San Francisco his home.

His obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2000 said, "Mr. Kingman's watercolors of San Francisco's cable cars and Golden Gate Bridge were nearly as popular as the landmarks themselves."

Documentary with family members and artists commenting
on Dong Kingman's unique blend of Chinese and American styles.

In September of 1986, SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote, "Dong Kingman was buying the drinks at the White Horse on Sutter a few cocktail hours ago; his big water color of the Statue of Liberty, with the Spanish flag prominently displayed among others, has been bought by King Juan Carlos of Spain for $45,000, a record for a Kingman and maybe even the king man."

In the 1960's, Hollywood came to call and Dong Kingman was ready and willing to answer. He put his watercolor storytelling skills to work.

Flower Drum Song - 1961 ... Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) arrives in San Francisco as a stowaway to meet her arranged-marriage fiance, a wealthy nightclub owner named Sammy Fong (Jack Soo). But Sammy does not want to follow family tradition and wants to choose his own bride, Linda Low (Nancy Kwan). Rogers and Hammerstein's music helps tell the tale contrasting traditional Chinese and modern American cultures.

The opening credits are displayed with a series of Dong Kingman's watercolors, referencing scenes from the journey of Mei Li from Hong Kong to San Francisco.

Departing Hong Kong for America

Chinatown in San Francisco

Passing Underneath the Golden Gate

55 Days at Peking - 1963 - This is a tense film meant to build Americans' understanding of the West's historic relationship with China.

In the early 1920's, Peking was an unwilling host to armed flag-waving delegations from a host of Western nations, including the United States, all vying to influence China's new direction in an ever shrinking global world. The Boxers wanted none of the foreign influence or control. The Boxers were particularly offended by Christian missionaries and the armed forces present to protect them. Complicating things for the foreigners was the Dowager Empress and her generals who approved of the Boxer's Rebellion.

As the film begins, Dong Kingman's watercolors set the stage with classic Chinese scenes in red and golden hues, silhouetted architecture and flowering trees, giving viewers the sense of the exotic and beautiful world of China, but as the scenes progress, viewers are given a sense of China's imperial power structure and the mass of their walled cities and armies. By the end of the opening credits, viewers know full well that this is the story of a complex relationship, with no easy answers.

The Sand Pebbles - 1966 - Dong Kingman has only one watercolor in the opening credits of this film, but it tells the whole story. Seen in the foreground is the US Navy river patrol boat, The Sand Pebbles, lighted and white. But directly behind it is a much larger, dark-silhouetted Chinese junk, looming over the Sand Pebbles like a dark stormcloud. The Sand Pebbles is surrounded by masses of sampans, all filled with angry Chinese wanting the sailors aboard the Sand Pebbles to go home. The story centers around Steve McQueen's character, who in the end is stupefied, unable to understand his place in the the American and Chinese drama surrounding him. This classic film was directed by Richard Attenborough, and is currently on Netflix.

Bohemian Hugo Anton Fisher (1854-1916) had exhibited at the Paris Salon and salons in Dresden and London. After coming to America, Hugo found success in New York as a Hudson River School painter. Later on, he moved to San Francisco.

Hugo and his American wife raised two sons who became famous artists in their own right. The family made their home in Alameda. Hugo commuted to his San Francisco studio by ferry, often sketching pastures as the boat glided by. In 1906 he lost much of his studio work due to the quake and fire, not to mention all his sold paintings hanging on parlor walls throughout the City.

In 1896, Hugo Anton Fisher was 42 years old. His youthful son Hugo Melville Fisher had gotten a job with a newspaper in Honolulu. Hugo went out to the Islands to visit his son. During his extended stay, he established a Honolulu studio where he completed paintings of Oahu and the Big Island.

The article transcribed below is from the Honolulu Hawaiian Gazette. The Hawaiian citizenry were thrilled whenever a famous artists would visit their remote and exotic locale.

Artist Fisher to Paint Hawaii -- Will Visit the Islands and Paint Pictures

Has had Exhibitions in Dresden, Paris, and Berlin. -- Yosemite Valley and a Favorite Subject, Monoa Valley to be Portrayed -- Waipio Gulch and Falls

For the first time in many months the people in Honolulu are to be treated to an exhibition of paintings from the hand of an artist whose reputation in California is the best. Nor is he entirely unknown here, for on the walls of the houses of a few art connoisseurs paintings in oil or water colors by Hugo A. Fisher are to be found.

Mr. Fisher was born in Bohemia forty-three years ago, and when old enough studied under his father, a celebrated artist in Prague. At eighteen years of age he went to New York, opened a studio and began making a reputation. Ten years ago he moved to San Francisco and during his residence at the Golden Gate he has become through conscientious treatment of his subjects, one of the best known and most sought after artists on the coast.

He has painted for the barons there, and his works are to be found in the homes of the Hopkins, Fairs, Stanfords, Donohughs and others. One picture, a study of the Yosemite, was painted on an order from a Mr. Le Roy and by him exhibited in the Paris Salon. Mr. Fisher was also exhibited in the salons at

Sunrise over Hilo Bay, 1896

Hugo Anton Fisher, Pali to Kailua 1896

Berlin, London and Dresden. He took first prize at the State Exhibition in California for a painting of Grass Lake.

He brought with him to Honolulu a painting of Yosemite Valley, showing the Merced river winding through the valley, the giant peaks on either side throwing their shadows in wonderful grandeur. This is said to be the only painting of Yosemite made from this particular point, and the subject has in no way lost its interest or attractiveness through Mr. Fisher's handling. The painting is a large one, and the price -- well! it is beyond the reach of the average Honolulu art lover. But as W. G. Irwin has a half dozen of Mr. Fisher's paintings, he may want to possess this one when he sees it.

The artist was seen at Sans Souci Friday, where he had gone for the purpose of studying the effects. In response to a question by an Advertiser reporter, he said, "This is my first visit to the Islands, and I come with two objects in view: First, to exhibit some paintings I have brought with me; this I have arranged to do with the Pacific Hardware Company. They have taken the pictures and will exhibit them soon as their art rooms have been newly decorated in warmer tones than they now have on the walls. Second: For new ideas.

In the meantime I will make some sketches of whatever strikes my fancy on the Island, and then visit Hawaii, where I understand there are some romantic gorges and high waterfalls, rivalling in some respects the great Yosemite. There are several of these falls in Waipio, I think it is called, but I do not remember ever having seen a painting of them. I shall visit there and make some pictures. These, of course, will be sold if customers are found for them. Then I will make other paintings and exhibit them in San Francisco and New York, where I feel quite sure they will be of interest.

The ideas of the people over there regarding the scenery here are rather vague and are confined principally to some excellent paintings of the volcano by the great Tavernier and your Mr. Hitchcock, who, I believe, was a pupil under him. Beyond the glowing fires in that wonderful natural furnace, the people of New York have seen nothing of the grand scenery to be found here.

Why, today, as I walked out here, the mountains and valleys on the left of the road were to me most charming, and I wonder they have not been put on canvas by some of the numerous artists who have visited here."

(Reporter:) "Do you mean the place that meets your eye after you have left King street and made the first turn on the road?"

(Fisher) "The very spot. Some one -- a Mr. Norton, I think, who walked with me part of the distance -- told me it was Manoa Valley!"

(Reporter:) "You should wait, then, Mr. Fisher, until the clouds are hanging low in the valley and the sun shining above. You will find the effects in coloring that are seen nowhere but in these Islands.

It is said there are more different shades of green in the foliage here than can be found in the largest paint factories in the United States."

(Fisher) "But not so many that your local artist, Mr. Hitchcock, has been unable to find them. I have seen his work, and it cannot be spoken of too highly."

(Reporter:)
"You will sketch the Pali?" Mr. Fisher was asked.

(Fisher:) "Anything that has color, anything that will look well I will sketch -- and by the way, there are some excellent opportunities for character studies out here. I walked up Nuuanu street last night and found a mine of interest and effects in the women who sell flowers and wreaths. They are good subjects."

Friends referred to E. Charlton Fortune as "Effie." She moved to Monterey in 1920, drawn by the reasonable cost of living. Oh how times changed, even for someone with the last name of "Fortune!" But whether judged by the standards of 1920 or those of today, her paintings remain among the best of California impressionism.

In her day, women artists often disguised their gender by signing their paintings with an initial instead of their first name, but in E. Charlton Fortune's case, she really disliked her first name, "Euphemia!" Her friends knew her as Effie, but professionally she signed most of her paintings E. Charlton Fortune.

Effie was born to a Scottish family in Sausalito. It is generally believed she chose never to marry or have children because of her cleft palette, a trait she did not want to pass on.

Her family had trouble understanding Effie's desire to become a painter. They had strived to instill in her old world values. They truly disapproved of her dream to become an artist. A short time after their father died, Effie and her brother moved to Los Angeles.

The family then sent Effie to Scotland where she attended a Roman Catholic girls school for six years. Effie's classmates ridiculed her for her cleft palette, one of the curses she had to endure during her coming up years. Effie's Scottish aunts took her to a dentist who fitted her with dentures, greatly improving her looks. But what was special about her time in Scotland was her exposure to art and the paintings at the National Gallery in Scotland in Edinburgh. She found refuge from ridicule in art.

She returned to California an accomplished young lady and settled in San Francisco. She continued her art studies at the Mark Hopkins Institute with Arthur Mathews. Among her fellow students were Maynard Dixon, Armin Hansen and Maurice Logan.

In 1906, Effie and her family suffered great property damage during the earthquake and fire in 1906. All of her paintings were destroyed. After the loss, Effie and her family moved to New York where she studied at the Art Students League. It was a time when Effie's style matured, noted by her masterful use of light, movement and continuous lines. She gained illustrating skills from Luis Mora, and she especially loved her teacher Frank Vincent DuMond who encouraged his students to create their own expressive style. While at the Art Students League, she also studied with William Merritt Chase, and contributed illustrations for Harper's Magazine.

Santa Barbara Mission (1928), Monterey Museum of Art

Hall of Flowers, Panama Pacific International Exposition

Hatton Ranch, Monterey Museum of Art

In 1910, Effie returned to San Francisco. Luis Mora used his influence to help Effie get a job illustrating for Sunset Magazine where her friend and colleague Maynard Dixon was well known. During the summer months, Effie and her mother established an annual migration to the Monterey Peninsula where they loved spending their summers. Effie taught art, but was far less successful in mixing words to explain her theories than she was in mixing colors on her palette.

In Monterey, her attire was commonly a corduroy suit with Belgian shoes with shining buckles. She had a special carrier on her bicycle for painting supplies. In later years, she did buy a car, but was known as a scary driver. Apart from painting, she volunteered with the Red Cross.

The Senora's Garden

Monterey Bay, Oakland Museum of California

In 1920, she moved to Monterey full time, drawn by the reasonable cost of living. In this same year, she was elected to the National Academy of Design. In 1927, her work was exhibited at the Beaux Arts Gallery in San Francisco and was highly acclaimed. Later that year, her work was shown at the Oakland Gallery where it was criticized for being too beautiful while ignoring focus on social realities.

Effie did not take the criticism well. As art critics piled on, eventually calling her work "outdated," Effie took her talents to what she considered a more appreciative audience. She spent her later years doing religious paintings, some of which decorate St. Angela's Catholic Church in Pacific Grove.

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